This brief article discusses largely the indications and techniques of female sterilization, and mentions vasectomy, which is very seldom done in Belgium. Indications fall into 3 categories: purely medical, such as hypertensive kidney disease or uncompensated valvular cardiopathy; the medico-social, in which a group of medical and social factors, such as multiparity, poverty, and mild diabetes, taken together justify sterilization; and the purely social, in which the physician uses a medical solution for a social problem. Although vasectomy is technically easier than tubal ligation, invariably the woman is sterilized in Belgium. Techniques for female sterilization include transumbilical route postpartum, lower abdominal route (Pfannenstiel's incision), the vaginal route through the cul de sac, and laparoscopic cauterization.